Variations on a Theme formerly Blood of Scoobies
by tohonomike
Summary: What if the blood of someone NOT a Slayer was needed to save Angel the night before Graduation Day? What if other Episodes had Alternatives? Each Chapter will be a different story.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Blood of Xander (Story One)

**Author:** tohonomike

**Email:** All characters belong to their rightful owners...the Joss/ME characters, and any other characters are clearly not mine. NO money is involved.

**Summary:** Somebody had a story idea earlier today.

Not Beta-ed.

"Okay," Oz nodded as he went through an older book, "Killer of the Dead. That's our boy, and here's a vamp that walked away from it."

"Does it talk about the cure?" Willow asked as Buffy and Xander looked up from their research. Oz handed her the book.

"Oh, the only known cure seems to be in this book we found from Miss Calendar's," Willow continued as she skimmed, "It talks about the Killer of the Dead, a Romany poison designed against the undead and used over the centuries, and their speculation about it. Apparently they tried it on several nasty vampires, and apparently experimented on it in case Angelus became a problem again. The cure results in some type of binding between the two, or some such result. Then they destroyed the vampires in question. Ah! The only three instances of cure involved blood from one of the following: one who had survived multiple possessions, such as a shaman, a channeler or a necromancer; or one born of the clan, and preferably family that had created the poison, meaning Kalderash in this case; or of the same clan or family as created the magics cast that create a bond to the creature, Angel in this case. The Clan is again Kalderash, and the family is …"

Buffy worried as Willow's face paled and lost expression for a moment, "What is it Willow?"

Xander rolled his eyes, "Yeah, Willow, the suspense is killing Angel?"

The redhead looked directly into the eyes of her oldest friend, and wondered aloud, "Xander, the family name is Lavelle."

"Poor Angel," Xander replied, closing his research book and starting to tidy up as Buffy, Oz and Willow watched him in silence for a moment. As he started to get up as though to leave, Willow finally said something.

"Xander, you can save Angel…"

"Does it mention how much blood, Willow?"

"Um, not exactly, it just says drain…"

"As unto death…when we use 'drain' in sentences, it involves biting and being near dead or dead," Xander responded, then looked at Buffy, "If all it specifically said was that a pint was needed, we could whip out a syringe. Drain? I'd give my life for any of you living people. Keep researching, I have to talk to Giles."

"But you can save him," Buffy pressed, "We need him for tomorrow."

"In the day time? Come up with something better, Buff. Even I might take a few vamps down with me tomorrow. Angel would be a crispy critter."

"But—"

"I'm not going to be drained by a vampire, and especially when it won't save any more lives than I can…I'm going to see Giles. Find something else."

"You're correct, Xander," the former Watcher told him, remembering Jenny, "there are just too many variables involved to take the risk. We'll figure something out. Though I find it fascinating that you fit all three categories for a cure."

"Huh? Oh, I guess you're right, but I doubt that means only a third the blood, right?"

"Probably not, or else as desperate as things look, we'd need to consider it."

"Something about the demon?"

"The local villagers near the volcano site made reference to the legend of Ollokai. Might be a bastardization of Olvikan."

"Who's Olvikan?"

"I know it's a demon, a very old one. Might have a picture…oh dear."

Xander unfolds a page, twice, "We're going to need a bigger boat. And if you think it will do any real good and not kill me, take a look at the frickin' gypsy book."

An hour later, Buffy had managed to get Angel to the hospital, the only place Xander would agree to do this. Giles had discovered that there would probably be an eclipse at the time of the Ascension, which would allow Angel to participate in the fight. And so a very unhappy Xander Harris had agreed to do this, and only by a blood transfusion, in a hospital and with no one but Giles and a coerced doctor in the room. Buffy had opened her mouth to protest, but Xander held up his hand and gave her the look he'd threatened her with when Willow was kidnapped by the Anointed One.

After Giles performed the ritual, the transfusion began, taking a while since Angel was to receive only enough to cure him without Xander's death or major impairment. Angel was instantly in pain, his body feeling scourged from the inside as the poison was converted into something … fascinating, as all three cures resulted in an extremely strong magic taking place. As Xander also began to feel pain, Giles strapped the young man down, and Xander's eyes flashed green spooking the doctor. He and Angel seemed to average out the pain and delirium, Xander screaming out about 'Charlie on their six' and 'those things are after us' then began speaking in Romany, his eyes flashing green within the complete blackness as little yellow and blood red bolts flashed all over the two of them, Angel experiencing the light show but not the speaking in tongues. Giles went to the door and yelled through it for the others to stay out of it.

Finally, both collapsed in exhaustion.

Xander looked up and made eye contact, too tired to vocalize anything, but could think it, 'Hey asshole, you better be better after all that shit.'

'I am, and how can you be in my mind? Even Buffy couldn't when that demon aspect infected her.'

'Must be part of the binding…' Xander thought back, and mentally tossed the Romany book at the vamp, who as Giles noticed on the way to the door winced at Xander.

'Oh…' the vampire replied without enthusiasm, causing Xander to recollect.

'Crap…at least I'm in charge,' Xander grimaced distastefully at the vamp as Buffy ran into the room and over to embrace Angel, oblivious to all else.

'Bitch, not even a frickin' 'are both of you okay?' as she runs to hug you,' Xander mentally spat, Angel picking up on it, 'Looks like I'm definitely heading to LA with ya, Minion, after our road trip.'

'Minion?' Angel thought in horror, 'Road trip?'

'Your car, and I plan to see a few sites before we settle in somewhere.'

"—Angel, Angel, are you listening to me," Buffy asked, "Why are you looking like you're afraid of Xander?"

"Because he's my minion now, Buff," Xander smiled, "And we're taking his car and seeing the country together and killing bad things if we survive tomorrow."

"When would you come back?"

"Couple years, maybe never," he told her seriously, 'since no human is even worth a thank you.' Having thought that he knew he wouldn't stay away, but damn it, it sure felt good to think it, he smiled.

'Xander…' Angel frowned.

"Oh," she relied quietly, "so why are you staring at each other.

"Because, Buff, I can apparently do the telepathy with Captain Minion, here," Xander replied as the others came in, the doctor gone, "Giles, it looks like I got all three side effects of the spell, though I'm not letting vamps suck on my neck to find out."

"What do you mean?" Willow asked with Willowesque concern, "What effects?"

"If you'd read the book, Will," Xander replied, shaking his head as he got up and adjusted his shirt, "The poison guy saving Giles has his blood have big time Killer of the Dead effect on vampires, the caster guy has the whole ability to draw on Angel for the vampire effects like healing speed and stuff if he's nearby, maybe the unaging thing. And the possessor type guy can control both the demon and the soul, including the body, so that's where the mind link comes in. Usually you get some of it, but since I was all three categories…"

"Good Lord."

"And so there you have it. And now, I'm taking the Minion, registered trademark all rights reserved, to go get Faith and secure her until we leave tomorrow afternoon."

Buffy nodded, "I—"

"—will stay with the others and research and protect them, as this is not a search and murder mission, and I want to vomit when you kiss Minion-Boy."

And thus Xander the Normal-Plus Guy, Angel the Minion ™ and Faith Wilkins, began a big West Coast vacation before something inexorably pulled them back to the good fight in LA. Though because a show of proof was required to convince Faith of his sincerity about something private, Xander did do a little dancing in Oxnard, and no power on this earth will reveal that part of the story. As for changes to events in LA? Other than Seattle resulted in a big espresso machine being set up in the office, with endless coffee being sent over by grateful execs of a certain big-time chain, and Cordelia blessedly unable to work it…who can say?


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Blood of Xander (Story Two)

**Author:** tohonomike

**Email:** All characters belong to their rightful owners...the Joss/ME characters, and any other characters are clearly not mine. NO money is involved.

**Summary:** Somebody had a story idea earlier today.

Not Beta-ed.

"Okay," Oz nodded as he went through an older book, "Killer of the Dead. That's our boy, and here's a vamp that walked away from it."

"Does it talk about the cure?" Willow asked as Buffy and Xander looked up from their research. Oz handed her the book.

"Oh, the only known cure seems to be in this book we found from Miss Calendar's," Willow continued as she skimmed, "It talks about the Killer of the Dead, a Romany poison designed against the undead and used over the centuries, and their speculation about it. Apparently they tried it on several nasty vampires, and apparently experimented on it in case Angelus became a problem again. The cure results in some type of binding between the two, or some such result. Then they destroyed the vampires in question. Ah! The only three instances of cure involved blood from one of the following: one who had survived multiple possessions, such as a shaman, a channeler or a necromancer; or one born of the clan, and preferably family that had created the poison, meaning Kalderash in this case; or of the same clan or family as created the magics cast that create a bond to the creature, Angel in this case. The Clan is again Kalderash, and the family is …"

Buffy worried as Willow's face paled and lost expression for a moment, "What is it Willow?"

Xander rolled his eyes, "Yeah, Willow, the suspense is killing Angel?"

The redhead looked directly into the eyes of her oldest friend, and wondered aloud, "Xander, the family name is Lavelle."

"Poor Angel," Xander replied, closing his research book and starting to tidy up as Buffy, Oz and Willow watched him in silence for a moment. As he started to get up as though to leave, Willow finally said something.

"Xander, you can save Angel…"

"Does it mention how much blood, Willow?"

"Um, not exactly, it just says drain…"

"As unto death…when we use 'drain' in sentences, it involves biting and being near dead or dead," Xander responded, then looked at Buffy, "If all it specifically said was that a pint was needed, we could whip out a syringe. Drain? I'd give my life for any of you living people. Keep researching, I have to talk to Giles."

"But you can save him," Buffy pressed, "We need him for tomorrow."

"In the day time? Come up with something better, Buff. Even I might take a few vamps down with me tomorrow. Angel would be a crispy critter."

"Eclipse!" Willow called out, "In the Ascension pages I Xeroxed they mentioned an eclipse."

"See Xander, if save Angel we have another fighter tomorrow!"

"Okay, in that case, what do we need to do? Get a transfusion kit from the hospital?"

"There's no time! We need to get to Angel before it's too late," Buffy asserted, almost dragging the young man from the room.

Xander woke up in a hospital, not remembering anything beyond the blind panic of Angel not being able to control his hunger.

"What happened?" he croaked as attendants came in, "Where—?"

"You're in LA General, Mr. Harris, you were relocated after the Sunnydale disaster."

"Huh?"

"Oh, that's right, you were admitted the night before for blood loss. Apparently at a high school up their some kind of big cave-in occurred at a graduation ceremony, sinkhole about half-mile wide just opened up. You're lucky you weren't near that."

Xander checked his visitor log for the last two months since being admitted for blood loss resulting in a coma. Anya Jenkins had come everyday for two hours. He waited, and she showed up, explaining how it had all gone down. The Scoobies didn't have a plan, and weren't able to stop the Mayor. He ascended, but drawing so much on the Hellmouth, he caused it to cave in with him in it.

Xander was frustrated, his head hurt, and the anger and remorse pulsing thoroughout his body had him scream, "I wish I could have done simple to have stopped the bastard before he could become invincible!"

And Anyanka, infused with the power of the briefing fully opened Hellmouth, had reclaimed her power center, "Done!"

Xander Harris stood dumbfounded with the crossbow in his hands, watching Trick turn to dust and the bolt that passed through piercing the heart of Mayor Richard Wilkins, killing him as he began the ritual to assure his Ascension in a hundred days.

"Oh Dear," the evil mage sighed, then died.

Simple blood loss meant no Xander to plan the fight on Graduation Day. The Mayor won. But being as this is the XanderZone, I gave it a happy ending.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Blood of Scoobies (Story Three)

**Author:** tohonomike

**Email:** All characters belong to their rightful owners...the Joss/ME characters, and any other characters are clearly not mine. NO money is involved.

**Summary:** Somebody had a story idea: What if blood other than that of a Slayer was necessary to save Angel?

"Okay," Oz nodded as he went through an older book, "Killer of the Dead. That's our boy, and here's a vamp that walked away from it."

"Does it talk about the cure?" Willow asked as Buffy and Xander looked up from their research. Oz handed her the book.

"Oh, the only known cure seems to be in this book we found from Miss Calendar's," Willow continued as she skimmed, "It talks about the Killer of the Dead, a Romany poison designed against the undead and used over the centuries, and their speculation about it. The only cure … oh. That's not good."

"Buffy looked as concerned as she was hopeful, "What is it Willow?"

"It requires the blood of a virgin witch."

Xander frowned and exchanged a look with Oz, who very slightly shook his head. The brunet asked an important question, "Does it mention how much blood, Willow?"

"No, it says drain…"

"Oh well," Xander shrugged, "look and see if there's anything else."

He saw Oz nodding with his statement and that the shorter male was guiding Willow's attention back to the books, when he noticed Buffy's stunned look.

"What's with the look, Buff? You really don't expect us to let Angel anywhere near Willow, do you?"

"But…"

"Hey, if they find something for Dead Boy we can use, we will. But you need to get your head in the game; we have to figure out what can be used to off a giant snake."

"It's not that easy, Xander. You don't know what it's like to have someone you love going to die, and the world end, and you're powerless to do anything about it."

"Sure I do, Buff. I forced Angel to show me the way to the Master's Lair, where you went off to die and the world end. You've seen me as nothing but powerless, but you're still here. So yeah, I know what it's like."

He turned and walked down the hall to the library, where he found Giles and Wesley ignoring each other as they researched the ascension.

"Yes, Xander?"

"What happens if we just grab the Mayor and get him out of his Ascension spot? Chain him up and the day passes…"

"I-I don't know…he wouldn't have the energy of the Hellmouth to draw on…perhaps he would be very much the weaker…I say, Xander what brought this idea on?"

"The only way to cure Dead Boy, is to drain a virgin witch…"

"Good Lord…"

"…and that kinda kick-started the Soldier persona into thinking fast and hard about protecting Willow, but if we're gonna do this, is there any way to get those memories back? We don't have a tactician in the group."

"Y-yes, I believe so, and that I have everything we need here…"

Wesley looked pensive, then headed for the weapon's cage, "I'll get the tranquilizer gun…"

"Good Heavens, what for?" Giles asked the younger Englishman.

"If you're using any of the standard spells, you must be forgetting that you're dealing with a 'reclamation of self' type of spell…and with Mr. Harris' previous Primal possession, I believe precautions are in order."

Giles looked slightly embarrassed, "I, uh, thank you, would you?"

"I'll ready with the weapon, Mr. Giles," Wesley replied as Xander looked at him for a moment and Giles began preparing the spell.

"Thank you, Wesley."

"You're welcome, and I have a possible solution for the vampire, but I doubt it will be usable."

"Not the blood of a virgin witch?"

"Not at all. There seem to be these demons, called Mohra demons, which have large jewels in their foreheads, I believe. Their blood regenerates dead flesh…"

"Oh, so if Angel were human again, there wouldn't be anything for the poison to affect. Where do you find these demons?"

"They tend to be coastal city dwellers, and are usually in pairs, hiring out as bodyguards and assassins."

"Okay, after the spell, we'll visit Willy and see if he's seen any lately…this is Sunnydale, after all."

The spell went well enough, with Xander ending up as a very in-shape soldier version of himself, and Wesley not needing to shoot him. On the way to the chemistry lab where the group as hanging out and researching the poison, they discussed ways of grabbing the Mayor and getting him out of town. Faith and the vampires close to the Mayor were the key factors in preventing a sure success in their planning, but Xander felt close to an epiphany. He was about to make another suggestion as they reached the lab door.

"Great, you get ready and –" a crash outside caused them to open the door and hurry out. Xander expecting the worst, was surprised that it was only Buffy picking herself up from where her chair had collapsed from leaning back.

"Oh, uh, you okay Buff?"

"Just my pride wounded, the butt will recover," the girl sadly replied as she continued to think of the vampire.

"Good, because if it needed intensive physical therapy over months and years…"

"Xander!"

"Yep, she's fine," he smiled at the others, Giles shaking his head and going to gather the spell materials. Xander turned to the Slayer, "Buffy, go to Willy's and ask him if there's any Mohra demons around. Wesley here thinks that the Mohra blood can do the job, but that the demons are rare."

Buffy ran off, leaving the group behind. Xander turned to the Watchers, "Guys, head back to the library and grab your books and some weapons. I'll fill in Willow and Oz."

"Willow, can you get into the Mayor's accounts and transfer the money to mine?"

"Yeah, but why yours?"

"Do you have an account into which it will go unnoticed?"

"No, my parents' names are on them…"

"Oz?"

"Don't believe in handing my money to The Man."

"O-o-okay. Okay, how much do you think is in there, Wills?"

"Um, ten million?"

"Good, and can you set up an off-shore account with my info?"

"Yeah…but I need to use your account as the starter…"

"Okay, do it. And put nine grand in the account, I'll need it."

"What are you thinking, Xander?"

"I'm going to bribe Faith, and offer to take her away from all this."

"Why would she?"

"Buffy will hate her for it, it will annoy the rest of you, and when she turns eighteen I'll give her half of what's left."

Wesley interrupted, entering the room, "You do realize that the Council will send teams after you?"

"Not if her Watcher comes with us…obviously staying in another room."

"Ten percent for me when she turns eighteen, then, Alexander, and nine thousand into the account numbers I'll provide Miss Rosenberg."

"Wha—" Willow replied as Wesley handed her a bank slip.

"A Watcher, however unprepared, does not give up on his Slayer entirely, so I'll be going along."

Xander smiled, then nodded, holding out his hand, "Welcome aboard, Wes, if we survive, we might actually start to like each other."

The Watcher hesitated then reciprocated the handshake, "I've chartered a small jet plane at the airport; I'll hand you the bill later."

"Plane?" Oz asked as Giles reentered the lab.

"Indeed," the older Watcher asserted, "Xander had the idea of removing the Mayor from his power source; Wesley and I believe that flying him over one of those Hawaiian volcanoes should put an end to his plans."

Buffy used a payphone to let Giles know she was in pursuit of a pair of Mohra demons alleged to be in town, and he told her to be careful. The librarian had forwarded the calls to his cell phone.

"I still don't see why we don't tell her…"

"Giles, all she can think about is her pet vampire," Xander grimaced, then sighed, "Sorry, with the adrenaline rush from being in-shape soldier guy, I'm even less forgiving of Angel than before."

"Quite, but now that we're at Faith's apartment, now what?"

"You guys stand guard, while Wes and I go up and see if she's here. If she is, we'll negotiate with her; if not we know she's probably with His Snakiness."

"What if she refuses or tries to kill you?" Willow asked.

"Then I'll make sure another Slayer is Called."

"Why can't Wesley do it?"

"A Watcher should never have to kill his Slayer, Willow."

Faith opened the apartment door, and in the moment of surprise that it was not B, but Wuss and Wimp, she hesitated long enough for Xander's boot to come up and kick her in the crotch, knocking all air out of her. He then pushed her back into the apartment and into a chair, then took out a gun and pointed it at her head. Wesley, I shock, closed the door and awaited developments.

"That, girl-thang, is for strangling me when all I wanted was to help you and nothing more," the soldier told her, then surprised her again by smiling sadly, "But Wes and I figure the three outcasts should stick together, form our own team, and put the past behind us. Say, millions of dollars behind us."

Faith looked up in confusion, "What do you mean, millions?"

"Let's say the Mayor is a lot poorer tonight than he was yesterday," Xander smirked, Wesley smiling smugly, "and we need your help to make sure he doesn't make it past his ascension tomorrow."

She looked up, a little pissed off, "Why the f--- do you think I'd help you lame asses? The boss is the only one to give damn about me since I got to town."

"Not true, I did," Xander told her sincerely, "but you thought it funny to kill me. Right now, we're even."

"Even if we're cool, what about the killing of humans thing?"

Wesley interjected himself, "As far as the Council will find out from your Watcher, it appears that while unfortunate, it turns out you killed a half-Brachen… a demon, and the, uh, palpable aura of evil working for the Mayor contributed to the confusion. And then the Mayor being the black mage he appears to be, was able to take control because of events and your own fears resultant from the Council team attacking you."

"But he doesn't treat me like the rest of you…and why would I give up being his right hand after his Ascension."

"Wes, show her the book," Xander replied, not letting the gun waver as the Watcher, toed the volume slowly over, with the book mark in it.

"Faith, the last time there was an Ascension, was in a place called Sharpesville. It was gone the next day. No demon or town. And since we have his money already, you'd be left worse off than before if you survived."

"He's going to turn into this giant snake?"

"And eat everyone nearby to give him enough power. All we ask is that you don't get involved. Wes and I are heading to his office to finish this."

"You two?"

"Everyone but the annoying couple. This at least gives the town a chance."

"And if you survive and win?"

"We'll swing by on the way to the airport."

"Okay…I'll stay here. Hedge my bet. Still don't think you'll succeed."

"That's fine…Wes, tranquilize her. Sorry Faith, until this is over…trust is a real issue."

The Scooby gang arrived at City Hall, Xander immediately shooting vampires in the heads and knees, Wesley behind with a shotgun to cover his back and contribute to the kneecapping. Vampires went down in surprise, the sudden loss of legs leaving them open to Willow, Oz, Cordelia and Giles' use of sharpened canes and stakes to quickly finish them off. Ten vampires in two minutes, none remaining as the need to reload overcame the group. Wesley and Xander exchanged a rueful smile as they knew they'd be dead if more vampires had been around.

Xander and Wesley fired into anything that moved, and took the rash but quick step of taking the elevator instead of the stairs.

Oz leapt out into the midst of six waiting vampires, causing confusion before he was batted hard into a wall, losing consciousness. The three seconds he bought were enough to allow Wesley and Xander to begin firing, Wesley 'aiming' at head height as Xander used the M-16 from the armory to shred legs. In fifteen seconds, Willow and Cordelia were seeing to the wounded Scooby as the three men pushed forward, Giles staking the fallen undusted foes.

Kicking in the door of the Mayor's office, they found him finishing the last of the spiders he needed, casually closing the box and putting it into a cabinet as he grimaced at their intrusion.

"Haven't you given up yet? I would have thought you'd learn what 'invincible' meant."

"We know, but this is fun," Xander deadpanned as he emptied a full magazine into the man' head before running over and handcuffing him.

"Where did you get the handcuffs, Xander?"

"Faith's place, actually, Giles, though I have a set of manacles for when we get him on the plane. Those I got at the armory. They had the brig supplies in the same area."

They watched as the Mayor recovered, Xander securing the man's legs and arms behind his back.

"We're going on a little trip, Mr. Mayor," Xander told the confused man, "Wes, dope him up on the tranquilizer stuff; just because he's invulnerable doesn't necessarily mean we can't keep him out of sorts as his spider juice fights it off."

The island below was quite beautiful; the seven hour trip nearly at an end as they flew low over Mauna Loa, claiming to have had trouble with instrumentation when chastised by Hilo Airport.

They flew low and approached the active but stewing volcano, the Mayor starting to come around. As Giles opened the door, Xander shot the man in the head as they pushed him out.

Faith still seemed to be tranquilized as Giles asked, "What was that for?"

"Didn't want any spells cast that might save him on the way down."

They circled slightly and watched as Wilkins hit and sank dead-center, Wesley reporting from the cockpit, "Hilo control is asking us to land now. I told them we would, and would refuel."

"That's for the best," Giles asked, "What then?"

"Then we get you on a plane back to the States, where you see if Buffy saved her vampire."

"And you?"

"I made a mistake with Willow; I think the fact that I kept eating all that band candy for weeks afterward, may have let me not try too hard to resist her. And it cost me. Then Faith came along…and we…but I never got close. She doesn't think a guy can love and not hurt, Giles. We left her in that crap hole motel room and after the firs week didn't really try with her."

"That doesn't answer the question…"

"Yeah, well, let's say in my family, touchy-feely meant something dark. And I don't know what her life was like, but I can see a lot of the same hurt in her eyes."

"And?"

"I'm going to try to be there for her. There will be rules; no sleeping around, because we know she's better than that. We'll give her family and field support in her Slayer duties."

"And what if in her current state she wants you?"

"She doesn't want someone who'll love her completely, Giles, and it'll be hard to turn her down. Maybe we'll relocate to Vegas; make sure she gets a lot of buffets after Slaying."

A laugh broke from the girl in question, "Buffets, huh?"

"Hey, Faith, yeah, buffets, 'cause you're much too important to throw away on one night stands with jerks."

"Why not you or Wes?"

"He's too old for you, and your Watcher. And you don't respect me enough yet. If in six months or so you'd like to start actually dating we can give it a try. I'd like it. But you're not a trophy to pass around, and we just rid the world of the bad guy that treated you well. So, how old are you?"

"Huh?"

"How old are you? When's your birthday?"

"Um, born October 31, 1981. Why?"

"When you turn … twenty-one, I'll sign over forty percent of whatever money is left to you if we keep at this partnership of us and Wes. I control the money, Wes is research, you're the muscle, and we'll rain each other in what the other can do. We won't return to Sunnydale unless there's an apocalypse or maybe for Christmas or something."

"Who's in charge?"

"I'm in charge of deciding what to do, Wes is in charge of arranging it and getting things done, and once we have a plan which you will go along with, you're in charge during a fight. Mostly, though, we can take a vote on most stuff. Fair enough?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Wes?"

"As we agreed before, yes."

And Trident Investigations was born because of the possible threat to a witch by a vampire, in the presence of a werewolf ally, to the eventual heartbreak of a slayer who on Graduation Day mourned the passing of the vampire.

And eventually, a half-demon seer, a balance demon (as Xander's requirement for participating) and a bit-part actress joined them when they set up shop in an old hotel they cleared out in late September after indeed making sizable dents in several Vegas buffets.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Blood of Scoobies (Story Four)

**Author:** tohonomike

**Email:** All characters belong to their rightful owners...the Joss/ME characters, and any other characters are clearly not mine. NO money is involved.

**Summary:** Somebody had a story idea: What if blood other than that of a Slayer was necessary to save Angel?

"Okay," Oz nodded as he went through an older book, "Killer of the Dead. That's our boy, and here's a vamp that walked away from it."

"Does it talk about the cure?" Willow asked as Buffy and Xander looked up from their research. Oz handed her the book.

"Oh, the only known cure seems to be in this book we found from Miss Calendar's," Willow continued as she skimmed, "It talks about the Killer of the Dead, a Romany poison designed against the undead and used over the centuries, and their speculation about it. The only cure … oh. That's not good."

"Buffy looked as concerned as she was hopeful, "What is it Willow?"

"It requires the blood of a werewolf."

Xander interjected before anyone else had a chance, "In wolf or human form?"

"It doesn't say…"

"Oh, are there any known bad werewolves, 'cause we're not feeding Oz to Dead-Boy."

Buffy frowned, "How much blood does it say?"

"It says drained," Willow remarked, shaking her head, "I'm sorry Buffy."

"What? Doesn't Oz have werewolf healing?"

Oz shook his head, "Not much, only when the wolf takes over; the damage mostly disappears during the change."

"And it's not a full moon, Buff," Xander pointed out.

"You can try a pint," Oz offered, "From a syringe. No more."

It turned out that the amount of blood was almost enough, Oz giving another half pint but no more. The Graduation Day battle went as it did in many lines of reality, except that Xander had Wesley show up and use the tranquilizer first on Faith, ad then the Mayor; maybe they could fog up his thinking while he was transforming. It didn't work, but the battle was won, Xander being the poor bastard to barely outrun the snake through the library as it wanted vengeance over Faith's downing.

When all was over, Xander turned to Wesley, "If you promise to try not acting like a pompous ass, you can go with us."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm tossing Faith in the back of my car and leaving town for who knows how long, maybe clear out vamps in forty-nine States and the Canadian provinces. Get her back to being a Slayer again, help her become a person again. You up for it?"

"You know I'm no longer with the Council?"

"And since you stayed and fought, you know that's why I'm inviting. Maybe if we make an impact, they'll starting paying."

"What shall we do in the meantime?"

"Swing by the Mayor's place, I already managed to figure out the code the last time I snuck in. We'll empty out his accounts and take it from there."

"Well, I suppose we can give it a try, partner?"

"Welcome to the Outcasts Assistance Group, Wes."


	5. Chapter 5

**Tabula Dust Bunny**

**  
****Author: Tohonomike  
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners... Joss/ME characters Spelling and others. I do not and cannot make money off of this, but for feedback I try to churn out a quality product.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**If there had been Continuity in the Whedonverse…**

**An example of a Tabula Rasa 'What If?' **

What should Spike really have been like if his memories of himself had been erased?

Willow looked down and pulled out the crystal from her pouch to check if it was almost time for the tabula rasa spell to take effect; the stone glowed green and she continued to listen to Spike go on about a literal loan shark demon.

"He's got a mouthful of choppers just waiting to be yanked out and worn as necklaces."

In Buffy and Dawn's home, where Willow had made the preparations for the spell, a spark from the fireplace landed on the bag of herbs. And as they began to burn, they did so with a green light.

In the magic shop, Giles sighed and rolled his eyes a bit looked toward Buffy.

"Well, now that we've recovered from Spike's ... sartorial humor, I'll jump to the chase. Um ... I'm headed back to England and I plan to stay ... indefinitely."

To say the group was surprised into silence, would be an understatement. Even Anya, sitting next to him remained quiet. Xander, leaning back in his chair next to Willow was of course the first to break silence.

"Now? Not now, I mean, not after ... everything."

"Yes, now," Giles replied as Anya looked hopeful and contributed her two cents.

"For real this time? 'Cause honest to Pete, a young shopkeeper's heart can only take so much ... I mean, not that I want you to go—"

Buffy stood and while shaking her head and raising her hands as if to ward of the situation, made for the door

"I can't do this. I just, I don't think..."

"Buffy, listen," Willow pleaded from the chair next to Xander, his jacket around her to keep out the cold. "I know this must be awful for you, and I, I'm sorry, I ... I'm so sorry for..."

"Everybody's sorry. I know that you guys are just trying to help ... but it's just, it's too much. And, and I, I can't take it any more," Buffy began to sob. "If you guys ... if you guys understood how it felt ... how it feels. It's like I'm dying, it—"

Before she could continue, the entire group collapsed into unconsciousness—Buffy to the floor at the top of the steps, Giles and Anya against each other in their chairs, Willow and Xander fall to the floor on their side of the table. Dawn on the lower level floor, Tara by herself in a chair, across the room, to the floor as Spike fell over onto some books on the counter.

With Slayer constitution, a young blonde in her early twenties, some time later roused to life again.

"Huh?" she asked, thankful that whatever was going on, she wasn't drooling all over. The place was dark, but from what little dim light was available, she moved and turned the lights on, which caused the other denizens to stir.

The redhead awoke to find herself snuggle against a handsome-enough dark-haired man; she gasped and jumped bak, as does the young man. Staring at each other a mment, he eturns a rather cheesy lopsided grin.

"Hey."

"Hey?" she responded uncertainly, and looked over to where a thin pseudo-brunette was waking up with an older man resting on her shoulder. The young woman frowns at the drool on her, and exchanges a very confused look with the man as a blonde in hippy clothes begins to move in her chair.

"Hello?" the older man broached as he moved to right and tidy himself somewhat. As he did, a white-haired man in who'd been asleep on the counter, awakening from the noise of the others, the lights coming on and a deep hunger, fell to the floor. Within, that individual winced in pain as his senses seemed to be on maximum, the memories necessary to control such things gone for the time as a teenage brunette on the lower floor awoke fully and shrieked in startlement at his fall. The ridged face of the white-haired man, fangs protruding slightly, again winced in pain at the sudden loud noise, detracting as it was from the deep burning of hunger the smell of the others caused.

The ridge-faced man rose to his feet behind the counter, looked around to see who smelled delicious to him. Dawn, continuing to be upset from the noise of the ugly being's fall, screamed again and ran for the back of the building. The athletic blonde on the upper landing of the magic store froze with a severe cramping in her abdomen as she watched the ugly guy in a seriously bad brown suit and bow tie come out from around the counter. The weirdo was inhaling deeply, and his sneer revealed ugly teeth to go with the yellow eyes.

"Please don't hurt me!" the young girl cried as she ran past the blonde, a dark-haired lug near a redhead without thought jumping to his feet as the seeming movie-monster moved in the direction of both girls. The blonde Californian, hunching over slightly as the discomfort passed, rolled instinctively aside as the creature dove in for a bite, screaming and half-grabbing its head as it moved by. The dark-haired lug wasn't so lucky, and for a moment achieved an admirable imitation of an immovable object to monster-guy's irresistible force.

Neither being able to consciously draw upon any fighting skills; the two males crashed over a couple of chairs, causing white haired guy to roll under the table and dark haired guy to cry out in pain as he landed next to the cute redhead he'd woken up with. The attacker screamed in pain and grabbed its head, emboldening others to be brave.

The older man grabbed a chair and raced over to attack the man pretending to be a vampire, bashing the untoward fellow twice before the furniture shattered and blood oozed from cuts. The short blonde and the dark-haired lug both picked up chair legs as the creature began to heal before their eyes as it scrambled away from the now-swearing Englishman. This brought the apparent-vampire closer to the redhead and her guy who'd begun charging back. The young male lunged forward without thought and started pounding on the thing's head, as the California blonde did the same. However, not knowing she was a Slayer, Slayer strength pretty much resulted in a messy end for the efforts of one known to others as William the Bloody, even as he bit into her left calf muscle. This made it easy, however, for the dark-haired man to use his chair-leg in as final strike to the barely-connected head, resulting in a cloud of dust.

"Eww!" most of the females responded, but Xander looked confused as the redhead moved close to him. Xander looked up at the other guy in the room.

"Where'd the clothes go?"

"No idea, b-but I'm guessing that monster won't be bothering us again."

Anya moved close to Giles, feeling comfortable, at least as much as they had moments before waking up next to each other. The dark-haired man looked around.

"Um, I must have hit my head harder than I thought. I don't know any of you people," he stated while scratching his forehead in confusion. He looked over at the girl he'd gotten up with, "Though you're hot."

Willow blushed, and smiled shyly at him, then looked concerned.

"You don't know me?"

"Not a clue."

"But you were just all like, 'oh, hey.'"

"Yeah, 'cause I thought you were a hot girl and I'd remember, but... after this monster thing…no clue. And my breath and yours doesn't smell like we got drunk, so I have no idea. Mr. English Guy?"

"I'm afraid that it must not be a head wound, else I am suffering the same situation."

"Huh?"

"I can't remember who I am either. Anyone?"

Everyone looked embarrassed as the shook their heads and mumbled that they didn't. With Anya pressing up against him slightly, he felt something in his clothes.

"Oh, wallets," he stated, and the others looked for identification.

"'Alexander Harris' is me. Hey, I exist."

"I'm Willow Rosenberg," she smiled, looking at her apparent boyfriend. "Heh, Willow. Funny name, my parents must be hippies." She looked at the other blonde, "No offense."

"I think it's a pretty name, and none taken," the girl assured her. "Hmm, I'm Tara, and look, I'm a student at U.C. Sunnydale."

"Me too! Hey, maybe we're study buddies."

The teenager looks to the California blonde, "I don't have a wallet."

"Don't worry. Me neither," she smiled in commiseration. "But here, look at your necklace. You're Dawn."

"Okay, cool," she smiled in relief,

"I'm, uh, called Rupert Giles," the Englishman offered, the woman next to him smiling fondly and repeating his name. Willow looked around the shop at everything, taking in their surroundings.

"Look at this stuff on these shelves. Weird jars of weird stuff, strange books with crazy covers, like _Magic for Beginners_."

Tara wandered around, and nodded in agreement, "This is a magic shop. A-a-a real magic shop."

The California blonde was about to gree, when Rupert burst out dismissively, "Magic! Magic's all balderdash and chicanery. I'm afraid we don't know a bloody thing. Except I seem to be British, don't I? Uh, and a man. With ... glasses. Well, that narrows it down considerably."

Anya with great excitement held up her hand to Giles.

"Look! It's okay. We're engaged."

"Oh? Excellent."

"It's a lovely ring."

"Indeed, what about anyone else? Any clues?"

"Oh, hey, I have a name on my jacket," Willow discovered as she took it off. "Harris."

"Harris? That's my last name. Maybe I have a brother and you go out with him. Or maybe you go out with me."

"Well, we did wake up all snuggly-wuggly. (walks closer to him) Maybe you're my boyfriend."

"Either that, or I got one pissed-off brother out there somewhere," he smiled as Willow giggled happily and snuggled close.

"I'm Ann-ya! " the girl who'd moved over to the cash register declared. "And Rupert and I seem to be the owners of this store."

"This is our magic shop? Uh, well, that's very, uh, uh, progressive of me. Humoring the weak-minded and all," he said and turned to the assembled group. "Any ideas as how to proceed?"

The short California blonde looked around, "We have no idea what's wrong with us. I think a hospital's our best bet."

"An excellent idea; anyone?"

Xander looked around, and noticed that his 'girlfriend' seemed to be checking out the blonde dressed as a hippy. This caused him to smile rather than be concerned.

"Um, hey guys. This is a magic shop, right? Well, how 'bout Willow," nodded at the redhead, then at the blonde, "Tara and I go and check out our homesteads, then swing by here with food in a while. You guys look through the books and see if there's a magic way to stop this. Then we'll go to the hospital; one thing I do remember is that hospitals are expensive. So I think trying this mojo stuff first is a good bet."

"What makes you think that Alex?" the shorter violent blonde, asked.

"Well, vampire, so magic. And since Willow and I are a twosome, we have more chances of finding out who we and then all of you are."

"And what about, um, Tara?" Willow asked.

"That makes it a threesome and improves our chances." He looked at the shock on Tara and Willow's faces, then corrected himself. "As in three of us finding out who we are, not what you think I mean."

It was only when Willow had spent the night with Xander and accidentally dropped the crystal onto the bathroom floor the next morning that everyone's memories returned. And life in Sunnydale didn't quite turn out as expected as Tara transferred to USC two weeks later, unable to get the image of Willow and Xander being together after Willow's magic abuse.

Anya, having spent the night with Rupert, her 'obvious' fiancée, convinced him to stay in Sunnydale—just in case he'd knocked her up. Regardless, the animosity and embarrassment between the two now-mixed couples was too much for matters, or in this case, affairs, to simply return to normal.

In the end, Willow had redirected the obsessive parts of her personality back to her computer science degree, and this allowed the Trio of Would-Be Evil to be ruined through tax repossessions, IRS audits, and daytime police work that even Sunnydale PD couldn't flub. And best of all, Alexander Rupert Harris was born to Xander and Willow at the end of August 2002; since Willow had been in a lesbian relationship, and had been arrogant, she'd neglected protection, as had Xander when they'd gotten together 'that night'.

The couple moved in with Buffy and Dawn, helped pay bills while the two best friends who were girls continued at UC Sunnydale for the next couple of years. Dawn had a relatively quiet set of teen years.

The end.

Certainly not my best, but after watching the episode again recently I thought this little 20-minute pseudo-rehash squeaked by well enough to allow me to close out this group of one. I kept remembering the demon had the memories of the person; so no memories left only the demon, not a wimpy human.


End file.
